It would be nice if the Blue Jackets could keep Raffi Torres. One can imagine the contribution he could make to a good team.

Last night on his first shift in Nationwide Arena, Torres used a headlock to rip off the helmet of St. Louis Blues defenseman Roman Polak after Polak took post-whistle liberties with Derick Brassard. Good hockey players do that. Torres went off to the box for roughing and the Blues scored on the ensuing power play.

By the end of the first period, Torres had two goals. Good hockey players do that. By the end of the game, the fans were chanting "Raf-fi."

The Jackets' 4-2 victory provided a primer on Torres' effectiveness. He is a fearless bowling ball with soft hands. He is a crushing checker who scores clutch goals. And, barring a miracle, he is out of here.

It would be nice if Torres, a new papa whose family is settled in Columbus, could stay. But, then, it would be nice if the Jackets were among the top eight teams in the Western Conference, and peace prevailed throughout the world.

The Jackets are in 14th place in the West. After last night's game, they were 10 points removed from a playoff spot. It is all over but the crying.

In an Olympic year with a compressed schedule, weaknesses are exposed in a more timely fashion. The Jackets have neither the goaltending nor the team defense they had last year. Their margin of error has been on the decrease since Nov. 20. Since that date, they have won seven and lost 24.

A comeback is possible. Last year, the Blues went 25-9-7 over the second half of the season and jumped from last to sixth in the in the West.

The Jackets have played 51 games, more than any other team in the league. It will take 95 points, maybe more, to get into the playoffs, which means the Jackets need at least 48 points out of their remaining 31 games. That translates to a record of 24-7. Almost mandatory is a 12-game winning streak. Does anyone see that coming?

Management will leave room for a miracle but look forward with sobriety, which is to say that general manager Scott Howson will be selling when the trade deadline arrives March 3. Torres is in the final year of his contract. So are Milan Jurcina and Fredrik Modin, although Modin has a no-trade clause. These veterans have value, and, absent playoff contention, they should be dealt.

What will the Jackets get in return for, say, Torres? They won't get the elite center or puck-moving defenseman they have craved for the entirety of their existence. They will get prospects and draft picks. So it goes. The long-range good of the franchise demands that assets be salvaged when and where possible.

There is a chance the Jackets will work out a contract extension with Torres before the trade deadline. But such shotgun negotiations normally do not fare well. The team has one idea of term and value. The player (and his agent) has a notion of what might be fetched on the free-agent market next summer. Rarely do those numbers agree.

"It's out of my hands," Torres said. "I'd love to stay here, and I hope I'm not hurting my cause (by scoring and driving up trade value). It's a great city, a great organization, a great thing to be a part of."

From Torres' point of view, the Jackets' losing ways are nearly over and the team will be better for it. It would be nice to keep Torres, but it is probably too late for that.

"There is a bright future here, and I hope the fans know that," Torres said. "There are a lot of young players here, and they're going to be better off for going through this."

It is a shame that coach Ken Hitchcock hasn't gotten more out of this group. It is also a shame that the players, who profess a collective fondness, haven't played well enough to justify keeping the team intact. As it is, scouts are crawling all over Nationwide Arena, like carrion waiting to pick at a carcass.

Mike Arace is a sports reporter for The Dispatch.

marace@dispatch.com